Lana Lang
Lana Lang was Clark Kent's adolescent love interest and later the love interest of pre-crisis Superboy (Still Clark, not to be confused with Kal-El & Lex Luthor's son via cloning) in the Superman comics. She is one of 4 of Superman's major love interests, along with Lois Lane, Lori Lemaris and Wonder Woman. Biography Pre-Crisis (Earth-One) In the Earth-One continuity, Lana Lang was introduced in 1950 as a love interest to Superboy (Superboy #10), essentially taking the place that Lois Lane had in his adult life. At times, she took her own superheroic identity, Insect Queen. In 1952, the character was introduced as an adult (Superman #78), having moved to Metropolis to become atelevision reporter, and became a major competitor to Lois Lane for Superman's affections. This love-triangle was the focus of many stories during the 1950S and '60s, but cooled in later decades. Lana eventually becomes romantically involved with the alien superhero Vartox. Post-Crisis In the revised continuity, Lana has been shown to now know Superman's secret identity as an adult, him having willingly revealed his powers to her in adolescence. In the initial new origin in 1986, in which Clark's history as Superboy was removed, they are shown as lifelong friends. Although she loved him, he viewed her only platonically. This origin was revised twice. In the 2003-04 Birthright origin, they are shown to have been in a relationship. This is retained in the 2009-10 Secret Origins story in which Clark once again became Superboy, but only for adventures with the Legion of Superheroes, never publically. In the Post-Crisis continuity, Lana never plays a role as a major love interest in Clark's adulthood. She eventually marries her and Clark's childhood friend Pete Ross (who does not know his identity, whereas Pre-Crisis it was he knew while she did not). Pete becomes vice president under Lex Luthor and, after Luthor is impeached, the president, making Lana the first lady. She and Pete have a son, named Clark. The two eventually divorce, and Lana begins to show interest in Clark again, despite him being married to Lois Lane The New 52 In the latest continuity, Lana still knows Superman's identity as an adult. She and Clark shared a romantic interest, if never a relationship, as youths. Lana now works as an electrical engineer, and it is suggested Clark may still have felings for her. Other Versions Earth-Two In the early 1980s, it was shown that Lana Lang had a counterpart on Earth-Two. This version moved to Metropolis at an early age and did not grow up with Clark Kent. She later joins him at the Daily Star as a television critic. She becomes the Insect Queen as an adult, aiding Superman in times of need. The Dark Knight Returns Lana is also a character in the alternative-universe story The Dark Knight Returns. She's a spokeswoman for tougher penalties on criminal activity and Batman's strongest supporter. It's unknown how her relationship with Superman has transpired, though due to the grim nature of the story she may resent him for turning her down and becoming government muscle. In Other Media Lana appears in the 1961 television pilot The Adventures of Superboy ''(played by Bunny Henning). Lana appears in the 1978 film ''Superman ''(played by Diane Sherry), as a cheerleader Clark Kent had a crush on in high school. She then appears as an adult in Superman III (played by Annette O'Toole), reconnecting with Clark after a high school reunion. The two spend much time together, and a potential romance is teased (even though Superman had sworn off Earthly romance in the previous film). Unlike Lois Lane in the films, her interest was in Clark Kent, not Superman. Lana was the primary love interest in the TV series Superboy, later retitled The Adventures of Superboy, from 1988-1992 (played by Stacey Haiduk). She was a lifelong friend of Clark Kent, and the two went to Shuster college together. In the final episode, Lana learns of Superboy's identity, and the two profess their love for each other, but their memories of these events are soon wiped. Lana appeared in one 1996 episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (played by Emily Procter). This is by far the character's most negative portrayal. She is referenced as an old high school girlfriend of Clark's who has more or less invited herself to his nad Lois' wedding, making Lois uncomfortable. Lois then enters an alternate universe where Clark has never debuted as Superman and is engaged to Lana, who has encouraged him to keep his powers from the world. Lois aids Clark in becoming Superman, and he and Lana break up. Upon returning to her own world, Lois is no longer threatened, having seen how wrong for Clark Lana is. Lana is the primary love interest for most of the television series Smallville, appearing from 2001 to 2008 (played by Kristin Kreuk). She is portrayed as the "girl next door" who Clark has loved his whole life. Her parents were killed by a meteor shower of the remnant of Krypton that rained down on Smallville and also brought the infant Clark. Lana wears a piece of the meteor that killed her parents, made of Kryptonite, around her neck, making Clark unable to get too close to her. This necklace only serves as a plot point for a short time. Freshman year, Lana is dating senior quarterback Whitney Fordman, and barely knows Clark. She and Clark grow closer, and Whitney goes off to war at the end of the year. The beginning of the next year, Lana breaks up with him via a Dear John video letter. She and Clark grow closer sophomore year, culminating in their becoming a couple. However, Clark becomes distraught over having inadvertently caused the death of his unborn sibling, and leaves Smallville. When he returns months later, still unable to tell her his secret, he tells her their relationship will "never work." The tension between them continues throughout the next year, until, largely to get away from it, Lana moves to Paris for the next year. In Paris, Lana meets Jason Teague, and falls in love. She soon finds she has lost hours of her memory and has a tattoo now on her body resembling the symbols in Smallville's caves. This mystery brings her back to Smallville for senior year. She soon finds she has become part of a mystical quest to retrieve a number of stones from around the world to find a center of great knowledge (the Fortress of Solitude), and that Jason is truly evil and has been using her for this end. She and Clark profess their love for each other, and are soon together again, although he still keeps his secret from her. Freshman year of college (5th season), Clark and Lana are in a relationship, and lose their virgnity to each other. In the series' 100th episode, Clark reveals his secret and the two become engaged. Lex Luthor, who has been a friend to both over the series, deduces that she now knows about the secrets Clark keeps, something which he has been seeking for a long time. He pursues her in his car, and inadvertently causes her to crash and die. Clark travels back in time and prevents this from happening (thus causing the death, instead, of his own father). Deciding that telling her his secret is still too dangerous, he now continues to refuse to do so. With Lana frustrated with him still not being fully truthful, the relationship soon ends. In the 6th season, she begins dating Lex. She apparently becomes pregnant, and the two become engaged. She ends up seeing Clark demonstrate his powers, thus finally learning his secret. She plans to leave Lex, but his father Lionel blackmails her by threatening Clark's life into going through with the wedding. She suffers an apparent miscarriage, but soon learns that she was never pregnant. Lex faked her apparent pregnancy to get her to marry him. Realizing how evil Lex has become, Lana leaves him. In season seven, after a brief stint of having to fake her own death, Lana returns to Smallville, and she and Clark embark on their third attempt at a relationship. This is strained when Lana unkowningly sleeps with a Kryptonian villain posing as Clark. Eventually, Lana leaves Smallville to pursue her own interests, but ultimately returns in the 8th season (now only a recurring character). Lex lays a death trap for Clark that ends with Lana having to absorb into her body a host of Kryptonite radiation. This makes Clark permanently incapable of being with Lana, and she leaves Smallville for good. Despite this separation being forced on the two of them, Clark apparently does move on from Lana in his heart. An episode in a later season shows him finding a picture of her and peacefulyl puttnig it away, apparently symbolizing his finally being over her. He ends up marrying Lois Lane, who he describes as "the love of my life." Lana appears as a child in the 2013 film ''Man of Steel, and has a cameo as an adult in the 2016 sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Gallery Lana Lang.jpg|Lana in the animated series File:Lana05.jpg|Lana in the Superboy TV series LanaLang(Lois_and_Clark).jpg|Lana in Lois and Clark Lana2.jpg|Lana in Smallville Lana3.jpg|Lana in The Dark Knight Returns Romances Clark Kent/Superman Lana was Clark's childhood friend. The two shared a mutal attraction for each other throughout their youth. They drifted apart sometime after finishing school, though they stay friends. Lana knows that Clark and Superman are the same person but keeps his secret. In the Smallville television series, Clark carries a torch for Lana and the relationship is played as one-sided for the most part. Clark also has a habit of stumbling around Lana, due to the fact that she wears a shard of kryptonite around her neck. Clark and Lana eventually come together, but after a series of problems both within and without the relationship, they split up. Pete Ross Pete was friends with both Lana and Clark (though he was portrayed as a bully at first in Man of Steel). He had and Lana had a slight attraction during their school years, but this was eclipsed by Clark. Sometime after Clark leaves Smallville, the two become close and eventually get married. Whitney Fordham In Smallville, Lana was originally going out with the local jock Whitney. Whitney only valued Lana as a trophy and it wasn't long before their relationship began to tire. They split up for good after graduation when Whitney joins the army, despite showing signs of improvement. He's eventually killed in action, which brings Clark and Lana a little closer. Lex Luthor Again in Smallville, Lana began to have a relationship with Lex Luthor after failing with Clark. They get married, but divorce after Lex takes a turn for the worse. Love Rivals Lois Lane In the Silver Age comics, Lana was a recurring character who frequently butted heads with Lois over Superman's affections. The two would wind up in various situations that put them in competition, such as the time Superman was turned into a baby and they tried nurturing him into loving one of them unconditionally. The modernized version of Lana is less competitive with Lois, though there is still a barrier between them caused by Superman's secret identity. 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